Principles of Electrical and Electronic Circuit

WHAT IS ELECTRICITY?

Before we can understand what electricity is, we need to know a little about atoms.

Atoms are the basic building block of ordinary matter. They are made up of three different types of particle: protons,
neutrons, and electrons.

Protons have a positive charge, neutrons are neutral, and electrons are negative charged.

An atom can become positive or negatively charged by losing or gaining electrons. If an atom losses an electron it
becomes positively charged. If an atom gains an electron it becomes negatively charged.

When beginning to explore the world of electricity and electronics, it is vital to start by understanding the basics
of voltage, current, and resistance. These are the three basic building blocks required to manipulate and utilize
electricity. At first, these concepts can be difficult to understand because we cannot "see" them. One cannot see with
the naked eye the energy flowing through a wire or the voltage of a battery sitting on a table. Even the lightning in
the sky, while visible, is not truly the energy exchange happening from the clouds to the earth, but a reaction in the
air to the energy passing through it. In order to detect this energy transfer, we must use measurement tools such as
multimeters, spectrum analyzers, and oscilloscopes to visualize what is happening with the charge in a system.
Electrical Charge
Electricity is the movement of electrons. Electrons create charge, which we can harness to do work. Your light bulb,
your stereo, your phone, etc., are all harnessing the movement of the electrons in order to do work. They all operate
using the same basic power source: the movement of electrons.
The three basic principles of electricity can be explained using electrons, or more specifically, the charge they create:
Voltage is the difference in charge between two points.
Current is the rate at which charge is flowing.
Resistance is a material's tendency to resist the flow of charge (current).
So, when we talk about these values, we're really describing the movement of charge, and thus, the behavior of
electrons. A circuit is a closed loop that allows charge to move from one place to another. Components in the circuit
allow us to control this charge and use it to do work.
Georg Ohm was a Bavarian scientist who studied electricity. Ohm starts by describing a unit of resistance that is
defined by current and voltage. So, let's start with voltage and go from there.
VOLTAGE
We define voltage as the amount of potential energy between two points on a circuit. One point has more charge
than another. This difference in charge between the two points is called voltage. It is measured in volts, which,
technically, is the potential energy difference between two points that will impart one joule of energy per coulomb of
charge that passes through it (don't panic if this makes no sense, all will be explained). The unit "volt" is named after
the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta who invented what is considered the first chemical battery. Voltage is
represented in equations and schematics by the letter "V".
When describing voltage, current, and resistance, a common analogy is a water tank. In this analogy, charge is
represented by the water amount, voltage is represented by the water pressure, and current is represented by the
water flow. So for this analogy, remember:
Water = Charge
Pressure = Voltage
Flow = Current
Consider a water tank at a certain height above the ground.
At the bottom of this tank there is a hose.
The pressure at the end of the hose can represent voltage.
The water in the tank represents charge. The more water
in the tank, the higher the charge, the more pressure is
measured at the end of the hose.
We can think of this tank as a battery, a place where we store a certain amount of energy and then release it. If we
drain our tank a certain amount, the pressure created at the end of the hose goes down. We can think of this as
decreasing voltage, like when a flashlight gets dimmer as the batteries run down. There is also a decrease in the
amount of water that will flow through the hose. Less pressure means less water is flowing, which brings us to
current.
CURRENT
We can think of the amount of water flowing through the hose from the tank as current. The higher the pressure, the
higher the flow, and vice-versa. With water, we would measure the volume of the water flowing through the hose
over a certain period of time. With electricity, we measure the amount of charge flowing through the circuit over a
period of time. Current is measured in Amperes (usually just referred to as "Amps"). An ampere is defined as
6.241*10^18 electrons (1 Coulomb) per second passing through a point in a circuit. Amps are represented in
equations by the letter "I".
Let's say now that we have two tanks, each with a hose coming
from the bottom. Each tank has the exact same amount of water,
but the hose on one tank is narrower than the hose on the other.
We measure the same amount of pressure at the end of either hose,
but when the water begins to flow, the flow rate of the water in the
tank with the narrower hose will be less than the flow rate of the
water in the tank with the wider hose. In electrical terms, the
current through the narrower hose is less than the current through
the wider hose. If we want the flow to be the same through both
hoses, we have to increase the amount of water (charge) in the
tank with the narrower hose.

This increases the pressure (voltage) at the end of the

narrower hose, pushing more water through the tank. This
is analogous to an increase in voltage that causes an
increase in current.

Now we're starting to see the relationship between

voltage and current. But there is a third factor to be
considered here: the width of the hose. In this analogy, the
width of the hose is the resistance. This means we need to
add another term to our model:
* Water = Charge (measured in Coulombs)
* Pressure = Voltage (measured in Volts)
* Flow = Current (measured in Amperes, or "Amps")
* Hose Width = Resistance

RESISTANCE
Consider again our two water tanks, one with a narrow pipe
and one with a wide pipe. It stands to reason that we can't
fit as much volume through a narrow pipe than a wider one
at the same pressure. This is resistance. The narrow pipe
"resists" the flow of water through it even though the water
is at the same pressure as the tank with the wider pipe.

In electrical terms, this is represented by two circuits with equal

voltages and different resistances. The circuit with the higher
resistance will allow less charge to flow, meaning the circuit with
higher resistance has less current flowing through it. This brings us
back to Georg Ohm. Ohm defines the unit of resistance of "1 Ohm"
as the resistance between two points in a conductor where the
application of 1 volt will push 1 ampere, or 6.241×10^18 electrons.
This value is usually represented in schematics with the greek
letter "Ω", which is called omega, and pronounced "ohm".

WHAT ARE CIRCUITS?

A circuit is a path that electric current flows around.
Current flows from a power source
through an electrical path called conductor or wire
to a load. The load converts the
electric energy into anther type of
Energy. A light bulb is a load that converts
electrical energy into light and heat energy.
Simple circuits can be controlled by a device called switch, it
can be protected from short circuit or power surge with
the use of the device called fuse.

HOW ELECTRICITY IS PRODUCED

Electricity is one of the most widely used forms of energy used by humans throughout the world. In early times many
cities and towns were built alongside waterfalls (a primary source of mechanical energy) that turned water wheels to
perform work. Before the electricity generation began slightly over 100 years ago, houses were lit with kerosene
lamps, food was cooled in iceboxes, and rooms were warmed by wood-burning or coal-burning stoves. Most people
do not stop to think what life would be like without electricity and tend to take it for granted because it is always
there. It does so many things for us such as lighting and heating/cooling homes, powering televisions and computers.

Sources of Electricity
• Lightning, a form of static electricity, is electrons moving from one cloud to another or from a cloud to the ground.
An example of static electricity would be walking over a carpet and touching an object and a stream of electrons
jumped to you from that object.
• Generator, a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) into electrical power.
• Magnets and Electricity, The spinning of the electrons around the nucleus of an atom creates a tiny magnetic field.
Most objects are not magnetic because the atoms are arranged so that the electrons spin in different, random
directions, and cancel out each other. Magnets and wire are used together in electric generators.
• Batteries, produce electricity using two different metals in a chemical solution. A reaction between the metals and
the chemical frees more electrons in one metal than in the other. If a wire is attached to both ends of the battery and
a light bulb, the electricity flows lighting the bulb.

Electricity Travels in Circuits

Electricity travels in closed loops or circuits, to provide a complete path before the electrons can move. If a circuit is
open, the electrons cannot flow. When a light switch, is turned on there is a complete a circuit and electricity flows
through the circuit illuminating the light bulb. When the light switch is shut off, the circuit is open and no electricity
flows to the light bulb. When a light switch is turned on, electricity flows through a tiny wire in the bulb and it glows.
When the tiny wire has broken, the path through the bulb is gone.

How Electricity is Generated

Most of the electricity in North America is produced in steam turbines. A turbine converts the energy of a moving
fluid (liquid or gas) to mechanical energy. Steam turbines have a series of blades mounted on a shaft against which
steam is forced, thus rotating the shaft connected to the generator.

• Coal, petroleum (oil), and natural gas are burned in large furnaces to heat water to make steam that pushes
on the blades of a turbine. Coal is the largest single primary source of energy used to generate electricity in the North
America.
• Hydropower, the source of most electricity generated, consists of a process where flowing water is used to
spin a turbine connected to a generator. There are two basic types of hydroelectric systems: one where flowing
water from a reservoir is used, and the other the force of the water current applies pressure to the turbine blades.
• Nuclear is a method in which steam is produced by heating water through a process called nuclear fission.
When atoms of uranium fuel are hit by neutrons they fission (split), releasing heat and form a chain reaction
releasing heat that spins a turbine to generate electricity.
• Wind Power is derived from the conversion of the energy contained in wind into electricity. Wind power
turbines are similar to a typical wind mill.
The Transformer - Moving Electricity
• The transformer allows electricity to be sent over long distances. This made it possible to
supply electricity to homes and businesses located far from the electric generating plant.
The electricity produced by a generator travels along cables to a transformer, which
changes electricity from low voltage to high voltage. Transmission lines carry the electricity
to a substation which sends the electricity to homes, offices and factories.